I am asking for advice on a pitch black haunt I am designing for April 30/May 1st. I need to come up with an affordable design, with easy cleanup/breakdown as we will be building it in no more than 10 hours on site at my school's Relay for Life. Last year our haunt was the biggest and best it's ever been, and it's the largest on-site fundraiser at the event, this year we are trying to increase the size and decrease the cost. My idea is to use PVC Pipe for a frame, and essentially wrap the entire thing in black plastic, and designing a maze pattern within by hanging the plastic wrap down to form walls (lined with PVC for support).

So my question to you guys are,
1) Do you think it's safe? (Last year we used 2x4 frames, and stapled on paper room rolls and no one went flying through them...)

I would not consider pvc frames and black plastic, even if it's fireproof, to be safe for customers to walk thru. Unfortunately I also do not have an answer as to a safe, quality way to quickly build and disassemble a haunt. Sorry.

Thanks for the input Brian. Last year we used 2x4 frames that we built a week or so beforehand, and then we put them up on-site from 8am-4pm and then we stapled on the walls and added props from 4-8pm and it was sturdy as heck! It took longer to take apart than it did to put it together. We braced it properly and to test it, I hung from all the frames and I could not get the things to budge. It was a huge success! So I know it can be done safely, we even passed inspection. I was just curious to see if there were better ways out there. I appreciate your concern but with any amount of determination, there is always a way.

I'm not sure what you have for a budget or if this haunted house is indoors??? There are a few things to consider, but you need to talk with the Fire Department on safety concerns before you go buying anything.

You can buy fire rated black plastic from Menards. Not sure if I'm for PVC pipe, might be cheaper in the end to go back to 2x4s.

Did you keep these 2x4s from last year??? Frame up the walls from last year and spend the money on plywood instead of starting from scratch. Then your walls will be more stable and you can use them year after year. Just remember, if this is an indoor haunt, you WILL need to treat them with fire rated chemicals and use water based paints.

Hope this helps??? See if any of your local haunts want to partner with you and put something together???

Thanks Mr. Haunt! This is actually on a college campus, and we submit our plans in a digital 3-D layout (similar to the ones presented to customers of professional haunted attraction designers, that we make our own.) I thought I posted the picture of last years...maybe it didn't go through? It is an outdoor haunt, and we get approval from the fire marshal. It is located next to the bleachers of a football field at an overnight Relay for Life event.

We used 2x4's last year, it worked really well but it was extremely time consuming, and we had no location to store the 2x4's so we donated them after we were done.

Another option someone suggested was using an inflatable haunt, such as a scAIR structure, but we are not able to afford a scAIR haunt. I'm trying to find a donor, or alternative option. I agree that PVC is not the greatest, as I'm learning. This is why we're starting early!

I would love to reach out to local haunts for help, but there aren't any in my area, which is why this event is such a hit at the Relay for Life. There are no major haunted attraction in our section of Connecticut, and the ones that do exist are all outdoor and do not use any 4x8 walls. They're forest walks, or hayrides through cornfields. It's a little frustrating when you love haunting as much as me, and most of you guys! lol

Bobby,
I have been looking into Coroplast sheets for walls. Its also called corflute, its the stuff most outdoor signs are printed on. It runs about $9.00 a sheet and comes in a ton of colors. I normally use 2x2 to frame my panels one on each side and three 45" pieces connecting them. That puts your panel at about $18 each. Light weight but supportable with 1x4 bracing across the top.

I'm thinking that your event is off season for most pro haunts and one might be able to rent you some wooden walls for the two days. I don't know who is in your area. Certainly minor compensation for moving in and out would be a fraction of this building something temporary that has to be disguarded or might incur storage fees.

Chances are this gets you into the pro fire proof catagory. Not only is black plastic a real hazzard in so many ways if something went wrong but if you can nvest in the quality of the event, you would be supprised with the patronage.

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And Greg, we don't have any pro haunts here that use 4x8 walls. There was Fright Haven (if you checked the CT haunt section) but they went out of business and the owner wants over $100,000 for each haunt. I don't know if it's a great idea to take the risk with his kind of prices. The walk through of the haunt is only about 2 minutes, due to time and space, but the scares are intense and people love it! I'm hoping the new theme can make it seem longer (by being afraid of the dark) and provide the same quality of scares.

Well it sounds like you have options to choose from when it comes to building walls. As you can see from the other haunters, they are against the plastic. I like Allens idea, seems to be affordable anyway.

Let me give you this suggestion; I'm sure that you have sponsors that support your event, right? Why not go to a local storage facilitie and ask them to sponsor your event by donating a space to store your walls??????

My concern for you is this, your haunt does WELL for you every year, and form what you tell me there is an issue with storage? Thus you have to spend money building walls every year??? Or at least thats what I'm thinking, so with that said you need find a way to keep your walls and use them year after year.

I'm pushing the issue on a storage space, because building walls year after year is only going to eat your budget. I'm sure the other haunters would aggree!

A lumber Yard for a sponser?
My wacky idea: buy 3/4 inch thick plywood (Yes$$$!) but guess what? it will take and make very good use of ONE coat of paint and someday these pieces of substantial wood will still be valuable, you could build a real house with them, unlike flakey boards.
I could see this as actually being cheaper in the long term of things.
"Wood" is cheap right now.
I met a guy who was given an inflatable laser gun game /thing. He set it up near my house one Halloween I guess the owner had alot of $ and got bored owning it.